A FORMER amphetamine user has been handed a community order after a court heard he had taken “massive steps” to change his life.

Kevin Boulton, 23, pleaded guilty to possession with intent to supply after police found 6.55g of the Class B drug amphetamine at his North Yorkshire home last May.

Teesside Crown Court heard today (Wednesday, April 30) that the drug, in white powder form, was sealed in cling film and also stored in a Tupperware tub at Boulton’s home on John Street, Loftus.

It had a street value of £65.50 and over £500 in cash was also discovered at the address.

Mitigating, Graham Brown said that all the cash could be legitimately accounted for and the amphetamines were for Boulton’s personal use and only ever supplied to a group of his friends.

Mr Brown said that Boulton had abstained from drugs since the date of his arrest – an achievement he described as “enormous”.

He said: “The period of time has been agonising for the defendant and his partner, who is pregnant and due to give birth in July, he has taken massive steps to reflect and change his life from where he was at the time of his arrest.”

Judge Simon Bourne-Arton, the Recorder of Middlesbrough, questioned why the case had taken so long to come before the court and imposed an 18-month community order with supervision.